1. Field
The field of this invention relates to a method and a portable apparatus for practicing Yoga outdoors, specifically, practicing Yoga using the apparatus attached to a strong tree. Class 482 Exercise Devices
2. Background
It is a well-established fact that proper exercise is a component of good health. Tens-of-thousands of games, toys, recreational activities, and exercising devices have been created to enhance the pleasure and even overcome the pain of exercising. Not only does the present invention method and apparatus offer an extremely effective, efficient, and motivating way to enhance physical conditioning, but it also addresses several other key aspects of a healthy and enjoyable life style, namely: balance, strength, flexibility, and a connection with nature. The strong trend in the United States toward improved mental and physical health through Eastern exercise practices like Yoga have positively impacted our society's holistic approach to health.
Over the past few decades, our modern society has transitioned from an active, outdoor society to a sedentary, indoor society. We spend an ever increasing percentage of our daily lives indoors: attending school, working in office environments, working on computers, watching television, and playing video games. We have even transitioned many of our normal outside activities such as walking, running, or biking to indoor activities such as running on a treadmill or riding a stationary exercise bicycle. Many group classes like aerobics, Pilates, and Yoga are conducted indoors in gyms and in Pilates and Yoga studios.
When people experience what our parents referred to as “cabin fever” they suffer from an increase in anxiety and mild depression, but it seems like we have exchanged the simple solution of ‘going outside’ with taking ever increasing amounts of ‘anti-anxiety and antidepressant’ medications. Not only are we not spending time outdoors, we are losing our connection with the natural world of trees, flowers, clouds, wildlife, rain, and wind. We have substituted our personal experience in nature with a vicarious experience about nature through TV programs such as The Discovery Channel or Animal Planet. The problem has become so prevalent that it now has been given a name: ‘nature deficit disorder’. This disorder has serious implications and is characterized with many symptoms ranging from childhood obesity, teenage depression, and lethargic adults. It is the intention of the current invention's method and apparatus to help mitigate some of these negative symptoms by encouraging, and providing a means for, enjoyable, meaningful, and playful outdoor stretching and exercising activities.
Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods—Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder shares with us on page 34 and 35:                Nature-Deficit Disorder describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses. The disorder can be detected in individuals, families, and communities. Nature deficit can even change human behavior in cities, which could ultimately affect their design, since long-standing studies show a relationship between the absence, or inaccessibility, of parks and open space with high crime rates, depression, and other urban maladies. Nature Deficit Disorder can be recognized and reversed, individually and culturally. But deficit is only one side of the coin. The other is natural abundance. By weighing the consequences of the disorder, we also can become more aware of how blessed our children can be—biologically, cognitively, and spiritually—through positive physical connection to nature.        Indeed, the new research focuses not so much on what is lost when nature fades, but on what is gained in the presence of the natural world.        
There have been many people throughout history that have eloquently stated the intense need for this connection between mankind and nature—the following are a few examples:
John Burroughs, Naturalist & Essayist said: “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”
E. M. Forester, Novelist & Humanitarian asks: “What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?”
Walt Whitman, Poet, wrote: “Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?”
Robert Louis Stevenson, Novelist & Poet, shares: “It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.”
John Muir, Naturalist & Writer, said: “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”
John Muir also wrote: “I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out until sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
Henry David Thoreau wrote: “Nature is but another name for health”
Saint Bernard, Theologian, announced: “You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters.”
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant #0216560 funded the following cited work. The NSF is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense . . . .” With an annual budget of about $6.06 billion (statistic from NSF website updated June, 2008), the NSF is the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities.
The following are excerpts of National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant #0216560: Evidence for a fundamental and pervasive shift away from nature-based recreation “Is love of nature in the US becoming love of electronic media?”
16-year downtrend in national park visits explained by watching movies, playing video games, interne use, and oil prices. By: Oliver R. W. Pergams and Patricia A. Zaradic
Department of Biological Sciences (MC 066),
University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St., Chicago, Ill. 60607, USA
Stroud Water Research Center, 970 Spencer Road, Avondale, Pa. 19311, USA
Edited by Gretchen C. Daily, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., and approved Dec. 17, 2007 (received for review Oct. 17, 2007)
Abstract                After 50 years of steady increase, per capita visits to U.S. National Parks have declined since 1987. To evaluate whether we are seeing a fundamental shift away from people's interest in nature, we tested . . . four classes of nature participation variables:        (i) visitation to various types of public lands in the U.S. and National Parks in Japan and Spain,        (ii) number of various types of U.S. game licenses issued,        (iii) indicators of time spent camping, and        (iv) indicators of time spent backpacking or hiking.        The four variables with the greatest per capita participation were visits to Japanese National Parks, U.S. State Parks, U.S. National Parks, and U.S. National Forests, with an average individual participating 0.74-2.75 times per year.        The longest and most complete time series tested suggest that typical declines in per capita nature recreation began between 1981 and 1991, are proceeding at rates of −1.0% to −1.3% per year, and total to date −18% to −25%.        In conclusion, all major lines of evidence point to an ongoing and fundamental shift away from nature-based recreation.        
In the book: ‘Healing Gardens: Therapeutic Benefits and Design Recommendations’ (Wiley, 1999) by Clare Cooper Marcus and Marni Barnes pages 1 and 2 states:                Over the centuries, the connection between healing and nature was gradually superseded by increasingly technical approaches—surgery, medicines, drugs, and X-rays. A separation occurred between attention to body and spirit, and increasingly, different parts of the body (eyes, heart, digestive tract, etc.) and different afflictions (cancer, arthritis, etc.) were treated by specialists. The idea that access to nature could assist in healing was all but lost.        Research exists to support the notion of nature as healer. Studies have been conducted that confirm the clearly positive benefits to patients, staff, and visitors of hospital outdoor space. Specifically designated “healing gardens” have begun to appear in hospitals. Certain relatively new categories of medical settings that specialize in the care (rather than cure) of their patients—for example, the hospice and facilities for Alzheimer's patients—have enthusiastically embraced the importance of a garden along with a homelike interior. Books have appeared that urge readers to consider their own gardens as a healing or sanctuary space (Minter, 1993; McDowell and Clark-McDowell, 1998; Jay, 1998). The organization that accredits 85 percent of U.S. acute care hospitals now requires that for certain patient groups (pediatrics, long-term care) and those experiencing long stays, the hospital provide access to the outdoors through appropriate use of hospital grounds, nearby parks and playgrounds, and adjacent countryside. (The Center for Health Design, 1998)        Clearly, ancient knowledge about the restorative power of nature is not completely lost. The time is ripe to present what we currently know from research and what we can learn from best practice in landscape design to promote the reintegration of nature and the healing process.Background for Addressing the Need and Developing a Solution:        
Yoga is an incredible way to exercise and has withstood the test of time—it has literally been practiced continuously for thousands of years. Many Eastern Yoga masters and instructors conduct Yoga outdoors; however, as Yoga made its way to the Western cultures, for the most part, it has been moved indoors and has lost some of its inherent value. I was introduced to this invaluable form of exercise through an indoor Yoga studio. I later started conducting some of my Yoga sessions outdoors during my daily run with my dogs.
The idea of doing Yoga ‘with a tree’ was born in my experience. Early one morning, facing the sun as it broke over the horizon; I was doing my Yoga breathing and stretching exercises near the East entrance of the University of Texas, Dallas campus. Captivated by the peaceful experience of this ancient form of exercise, I became acutely aware of the beauty of the nearby Live Oak Trees.
I had spent much of my early childhood climbing and swinging from trees and in tree houses that my father had built for us. Since my recently deceased father had fostered in us a love and appreciation for trees by planting literally tens-of-thousands of trees, the idea of continuing my Yoga exercises from up in the tree had no longer crossed my mind, than I found myself taking my next breath from up among the branches.
Joining the tree in this early morning praise was an experience that was natural, enchanting, exciting, and calming—all at the same time. The thought of adding some form of ‘Tarzan rope’ for stabilization was the next logical step.
This idea materialized into the recently, world-wide flourishing—TreeYoga Multi-Sling (TYMS). Numerous experienced Yoga instructors readily and curiously embraced performing Yoga in a tree using this multiple sling apparatus. Yogis (men) and Yoginis (women) alike have helped transform this idea of doing TreeYoga into a reality, enriching their Yoga experience together in nature, both in and around the trees.
My experiences while serving as a U.S. Marine Reconnaissance Officer, as well as my training with Army Airborne and Ranger Units, Navy Seals, and Navy Underwater Demolition Teams, caused me to work with numerous forms of parachuting, mountain climbing, and rappelling harnesses and webbing. These experiences also caused me to have a life-long commitment to remaining in top physical condition through hiking, cycling, marathon running, and now Yoga in trees. This incredible, ancient method of exercising combined with this renewed connection with nature has helped me develop significantly in areas of: balance, strength, and flexibility.
Class 482 Exercise Devices: 482/91; 482/95; 482/96; 482/143
Field of Search: 482/91; 482/95; 482/96; 482/126; 482/131; 482/142; 482/143; 482/144; 910